How to keep string algae away

[j.w]

Yours will prolly come back soon CE and glad you are having luck w/ the Jenny. I like that stuff too and it should do good near your stream. That stuff is easy to start more from.

 

[addy1]

Oh, yippees, you ladies are really making my day now! Then hopefully it will all go away after the pond warms up. I did pull the lily pots up last weekend and tried to remove as much as I could from the plants. They all have small leaves starting to grow, but the water temp keeps bouncing from 45 to 50, so I guess they can't decide if it's safe yet to really get to going! Do you have any lilies to the top of the water yet, Addy? I think you are warmer there than me.

Yes the leaves are touching the surface and buds coming up. Have lots of leaves on the primrose, day lilies coming up in the bog, blue forget me know growing like crazy. My creeping jenny is growing like crazy taking.

 

[CountryEscape]

I keep reading about plants you have in your bog, Addy, that I think of as "dirt" plants. Like day lilies and hostas! I guess I need to find out what plants like to be very moist, huh? I have lots of day lilies but all are in the dirt. Guess things I have lots of I could test them in the bog and see if they work.
I'm anxious for my bog plants to get going. This week of 70 temps should jump start them I would think!

 

[addy1]

The day lilies did fine in the bog, actually better the ground ones. I didn't put in any hostas, mainly because they take up so much room, leaf size.

 

[pondlover]

I never would have thought to put day Lillie's in the big but I'm going to try. Are they ordinary day Lillie's or do they need to be some kind of water day Lilly?

 

[pecan]

I was on a Hosta forum and found many have them planted in streams, bogs and ponds. The key from what I am told is moving water and oxygen. If they are directly in the pond without any fast moving water or air stones near by they don't do as well. I am going to put one in my mini bog this year.

 

[addy1]

I never would have thought to put day Lillie's in the big but I'm going to try. Are they ordinary day Lillie's or do they need to be some kind of water day Lilly?

Normal day lilies, dug them out of the ground stuck them in the bog.

 

[CountryEscape]

Looks like I will be going to the Extension Office plant sale in a week or so, then! They always have gobs of day lillies and all sorts of hostas that people dig up and separate and sell there to raise money for the Extension Office. I could pick up lots of plants really cheap! Going to a Garden Show in Chicago on Wed with the Master Gardeners from the Extension office, and they are going to have water gardens set up there, too, so will be sure asking lots of bog plant questions!

 

[addy1]

Neat, pick me up some of those happy returns day lilies, they bloom off and on all summer.

Really see if you can find some of the happy returns, they do bloom off and on all summer, some great colors. I have managed to find a few plants so far. The nurseries tend to charge a lot for them.

 

[CountryEscape]

Will do, Addy!!! Thanks for the suggestion! I am also going to see if anyone has a small lotus plant, as I will be starting my seeds probably on Thurs (if it's raining) or on the weekend, but would love to have a plant already going, too!

 

[Telkwa]

How does this clay supposedly work? We can buy 50# bags of Bentonite locally. It's a fine powder when dry, a goopy mass when wet that definitely clouds the water at first. I still have most of a bag of bentonite. Originally purchased to plug a very small leak. This is the first I heard of using it, or a related product, to control algae!

 

[j.w]

Check this out if you didn't read it already: http://www.nfkc.info/nfkconliine/Cat Litter.htm It does not really say how it works but just that it does.

 

[taherrmann4]

So give it a try and let us know how it works JW.

 

[j.w]

tmann I've had it in my ponds for several yrs now and I don't have any algae problems. I just don't know why it works. I put it in a mesh bag and I also have a few plants planted in it. I also have the barley straw in there too.

 

[CountryEscape]

I can say that I put a nylon knee high full of kitty litter in my waterfall, and also planted all my lilies in kitty litter, and the algae has quit growing. It was growing so fast I was pulling it every other day! I will also add that I also put the Pond Perfect in the filter to run through the pond, and that may have done the trick as well. It's like adding beneficial bacteria to jump start the filter. I used it last 2 weekends, and plan to use it this weekend again at double dose, then back to normal dose and quit if it goes away. Oh, and I also have UV light on, but that doesn't help with string or carpet algae, just the suspended stuff, but I didn't want that this year either, so plugged it in for a month or so.